The present invention is in the field of e-mail communication and pertains more particularly to methods and apparatus for providing an enhanced e-mail client having programmable multi-address attributes.
Electronic mail (e-mail) has become one of the most commonly used communication tools in business and in the home. E-mail comprises electronic documents having a particular protocol for addressing, such as xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d. xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d addresses, and requires compatible software applications on the part of both sender and recipient for handling the protocol. Such an application in the art is termed an e-mail client, and this term will be used frequently in the present application, meaning the control routines used for processing e-mails, including reading, replying, and the like.
Typically, an e-mail message is temporarily stored in an e-mail server connected to a data-network, and users may retrieve the stored messages from such a server at their convenience. Most e-mail clients allow a wide variety of options to a user regarding such e-mail attributes as language type, encryption methods, list mailing capability, document attaching capability, profile options, and so on. Also, user and client information may be easily stored in an address book (database) for simple retrieval and implementation.
Although many companies recognize the benefit of using e-mail, some of them have only recently installed e-mail systems. One reason for this is because e-mail applications of current art are largely proprietary and some do not communicate using the same protocol as another application. Therefore, additional steps may be required by a sender to configure his or her e-mail so that a particular receiver using a variant application may be able to read it. Often, these prerequisites are forgotten when a user sends an e-mail to a recipient necessitating a resend of the same message. More recently, however, e-mail protocol has become much more standardized, and e-mails may typically be processed over different networks and through different servers and services.
Recently, too, many companies and homes have been connected to the Internet, which is a world-wide public data network connecting tens of millions of computers. One of the reasons for the Internet""s popularity is that the cost of access is very low. Another reason is that the Internet offers many resources in addition to e-mails. Each user of the Internet is typically assigned an e-mail address that is recognizable around the world. A computer connected to the Internet, having an e-mail client installed, can send e-mails to any one of these e-mail addresses, however, the proprietary nature of the client software may still require additional steps to be taken before one can send a message to a recipient using a variant application such as initiating variable coding, and so on.
As a result of the popularity and convenience of e-mails, particularly over the Internet, some companies now encourage their customers to send comments and request information and services using e-mails. Typically, these companies set up one or more specific e-mail addresses for these purposes, such as sales@xyz.dom, support@xyz.dom etc., and e-mail servers handling incoming mails may be a part of telephony call centers wherein agent stations are enabled with computer stations connected to the e-mail server.
In such e-mail systems there is still a pronounced problem and unmet need that may occur under certain conditions. For example, in some call-center environments wherein e-mail is supported, a number of agents may represent a number of different companies, being responsible for all communication including e-mail with the customers of those companies. In such a call center, it is desirable that agents be able to respond to customers with an e-mail reply having a xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d and a xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d address which refers to the company the customer has addressed originally.
The present problem is, that with current art e-mail clients, the return address is a default of the client for a profile, in some cases, and not a variable that an agent can manipulate, or that may change automatically depending on some attribute of a received message, without restarting the client, which can be very time consuming. When replying to a customer, default settings automatically insert the default xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d e-mail address into the reply. While most current art e-mail clients support the use of multiple profiles, a user must log-in to each profiles and may use only one at a time. Creating many profiles can be time consuming, and changing profiles during work of answering e-mails is clumsy and inefficient.
What is clearly needed is an e-mail client application that may automatically choose and insert addresses in the appropriate field box of an e-mail reply to an original message, or at least provide selectable options for such addresses to an agent or other user. An application such as this would save time and enable one agent to handle e-mail communications to customers of many different companies, and, in the case of automatic insertion in response to characteristics of an original message, avoid any danger of inserting a wrong or misleading address.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention an e-mail application is provided, comprising routines adapted for providing an interactive display on a computer video monitor, the interactive display including a window for displaying a received e-mail from a sender and a window wherein a user may enter a reply to the sender and initiate sending of the reply; a parser for reviewing at least the xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address of the received e-mail; and a table look-up function for perusing a stored table relating received xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d addresses with xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d addresses to be inserted in prepared replies. The application retrieves from the stored table xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d addresses to be inserted in prepared replies according to the xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address in the received e-mail, and inserts the retrieved addresses in the reply.
In one embodiment the parser is adapted to review the received e-mail message for addresses, words and phrases for comparison to prestored words and phrases in the stored table, and the application is adapted to insert any one of xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d addresses in a reply to the received e-mail. In an alternative the stored table stores complete reply messages associated with one or more of selected words, phrases, or addresses, and wherein the application is adapted to automatically prepare and send replies with prestored messages and addresses in response to received e-mails containing the selected words, phrases, or addresses. In another alternative, the parser is adapted to retrieve the xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address of the received e-mail and to compare same with addresses in a stored table associated with other xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d addresses, and, finding a match, the application is adapted to forward the received e-mail automatically to the associated xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address in the stored table.
In some embodiments the application, finding a match in the stored table with the xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address from the received e-mail, the application is adapted to send a new e-mail to the associated xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address from the table, inserting the message of the received e-mail.
In alternative embodiments the e-mail client of the invention simply provides variable fields wherein a user may enter xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d addresses in replies to e-mails, either directly or by selection from an address book.
Methods for practicing the invention as well as apparatus are taught in several examples in the descriptions that follow under the title xe2x80x9cDescriptions of the Preferred Embodiments.
In another aspect of the invention an e-mail handling system is provided, comprising a computer station having a video display unit (PC/VDU); an interactive display on the VDU having windows for displaying the received e-mail and for preparing a reply e-mail to the received e-mail; e-mail processing routines executable on the computer station, the e-mail processing routines comprising a parser for reviewing at least the xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address of the received e-mail; and a table look-up function for perusing a stored table relating received xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d addresses with xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d addresses to be inserted in prepared replies. The e-mail processing routines retrieve from the stored table xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d addresses to be inserted in prepared replies according to the xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address in the received e-mail, and inserts the retrieved addresses in the reply.
In a particular embodiment of the system according to the invention the parser is adapted to review the received e-mail message for addresses, words and phrases for comparison to prestored words and phrases in the stored table, and the e-mail processing routines are adapted to insert any one of xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d addresses in a reply to the received e-mail. In another embodiment the stored table stores complete reply messages associated with one or more of selected words, phrases, or addresses, and the application is adapted to automatically prepare and send replies with prestored messages and addresses in response to received e-mails containing the selected words, phrases, or addresses. In still another embodiment the parser is adapted to retrieve the xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address of the received e-mail and to compare same with addresses in a stored table associated with other xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d addresses, and, finding a match, and the e-mail processing routines are adapted to forward the received e-mail automatically to the associated xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address in the stored table. In yet another embodiment of the system, upon finding a match in the stored table with the xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address from the received e-mail, the e-mail processing routines are adapted to send a new e-mail to the associated xe2x80x9csend toxe2x80x9d address from the table, inserting the message of the received e-mail.
In the various embodiments and aspects of the invention taught below in enabling detail, an e-mail client application is provided that may be conveniently used by an agent who may receive e-mails addressed to different companies or organizations, and reply to such messages in a manner that different xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d addresses are inserted automatically as though the one agent were different agents of different organizations. In this manner one agent may represent several different entities without danger of inserting wrong or confusing data in e-mail replies.
In alternative embodiments the e-mail client of the invention simply provides variable fields wherein a user may enter xe2x80x9cfromxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9creply toxe2x80x9d addresses in replies to e-mails, either directly or by selection from an address book.